Dancing on Air

By Evelyn C. McDonald

October 24, 2017 9:39 a.m.

Last Saturday night, I was treated to something beautiful and unique (at least to me). I went to see “Aerial In Wonderland” at the Amelia Community Theatre. The show was put on by Bodyworks of Northeast Florida. Seems pretty ordinary at this point, right?

Let me set the stage for you. The curtains open and there are four long drapes in white extending down from the ceiling.

Dancers come out from the wings and some climb the drapes. But it doesn’t stop there. They twine the drapes around their legs, feet, waists, arms and strike various poses. Sometimes a split, others a backbend with toe touching head, a plank, hanging by the knees – every pose executed skillfully and gracefully. And if that weren’t enough, the dancers are truly aerial, doing their poses several feet above the ground.

The performance is based on Alice In Wonderland. When Alice makes her descent through the rabbit hole, she literally spins horizontally from the top of the drape almost to the stage floor. From there, we are introduced to the classic Alice characters – the Red Queen, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, the Cheshire Cat and various others. Each character takes the drape, which turns out to be a double drape, and performs acrobatics in mid-air. All age ranges are represented from small girls who swing in circles on the end of each drape to a sextet of adult dancers whose dancing is very much on the ground.

The amazing part of the performance is that the dancers need considerable arm and leg strength to climb the drapes and do the routines. To be not simply a gymnastics competition, they also need an elegance, which the company supplied quite well.

Much of the music accompanying the performances was composed by Danny Elfman, a popular movie composer. You will also find a few old favorites – “White Rabbit,” by Jefferson Airplane; “I Want It All by Queen;” and even a rendition of “Macarena.”

Bodyworks is the brain child of Pamela Kato who created the performance and co-directed with Marah Lovequist, and assisted by Caitlyn LaMere (also the main Alice). Bodyworks grew out of Pamela’s teaching of aerial yoga. That one boggles my mind. It gives Downward Facing Dog a whole new meaning. You can find out more about Bodyworks at www.floridabodyworks.com or by phone at 904-403-0415.

The Bodyworks troupe performed Friday and Saturday nights. There’s a rumor circulating that they may do a show around the holidays. Wouldn’t an aerial Nutcracker be fun to watch? If you have the chance, don’t miss seeing them perform.

Evelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. Evelyn is vice-chair on the Amelia Center for Lifelong Learning and is on the Dean’s Council for the Carpenter Library at the UNF. Ms. McDonald has MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland’s University College and a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.